Wino, Given the potential lawsuit that you suspect, I am more cynical than you are about the reasons for AA backing the Captain. AA apologized to the agent, and I suppose that that was prudent, but they should also have told him that once on the a/c he was outranked and that he, of all people, should have governed himself accordingly. And he of all people, a Secret Service agent for crying out loud, should appreciate the need to be on guard. It is too bad that pilots have to worry that their exercise of caution will be second-guessed by their airline and their President. E.K. Gann once quoted a pilot saying "If my ass gets there, so do the passengers'." Pax know this and will nearly unanimously side with the Captain every time. AA might try polling their sources of revenue, particularly in these days of nervous travelers.
Guv, about your "only in America" nonsense. Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui attended the same London mosque. The leader of that mosque alerted the London police to the extremist activities of certain members of his flock long ago. The London police, by their own admission, did not investigate or, apparently, do anything whatsoever with the tip. By contrast an American flight instructor contacted the FBI last August about Richard Reid's mosque-mate Zacarias Moussaoui. One day later, August 16, Moussaoui was picked up by FBI and held on immigration charges, averting a possible 5th crash on 9 11. (He has since been charged for his involvement in the plot.) American security also identified Richard Reid but he was vetted and kicked by French authorities. Clearly there was a screw-up in Tampa but it doesn't appear that screw-ups are only happening in the US.